Every March, Ultra Music Festival turns downtown Miami into a monolithic nightclub, complete with mind-blowing light displays and a never-ending supply of booze. There are live acts, old-school acts, emerging acts and top-tier ones. It's a raver's paradise. Still, there's something missing: women.

Of the 250 electronic dance music artists descending on the three-day fest (Friday through Sunday), "five percent are female," says Adam Russakoff, Ultra's executive producer. "I wish there were more choices, but I wouldn't book a woman simply because she's a woman. I wouldn't insult a woman by doing that. We book based only on music, not gender."

The dearth of female acts isn't unique to Ultra. It's a puzzling problem throughout the genre. Glance at any EDM festival lineup, from Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas to Electric Forest in Rothbury, Mich., and you'll see very few women, with Krewella, Nervo and Rebecca & Fiona appearing on nearly every bill.

"Once, I was going through security at an airport with my laptop, which has the Krewella sticker on it, and one of the TSA guys said, 'That guy's dope, I listen to him, too,' " says Yasmine Yousaf, one-third of Krewella, a band of two sisters and a guy.

Miriam and Olivia Nervo perform in Brooklyn on Aug. 22, 2013. They're one of the few female stars in EDM.(Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris, Getty Images)

Such assumptions may fade in time. "The best indication (that there will be more female acts) is that there's a whole generation that sees EDM as second nature, and we're mining entire pools of talent that we weren't reaching before," says Liz Miller, general manager of Big Beat, Atlantic Records' dance-music imprint. "Those budding gardens of young DJs will include women."

"It's a numbers game," says Australian DJ and producer Anna Lunoe. "The more girls get in, the more girls will go up. In the next 10 years, there will be a big change."

Why aren't there more women in EDM now? "I have yet to hear a good explanation. But bottom line is that it just looks bad for the whole industry. It's not just unfair to women, but more importantly, to listeners," says Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Doug Elfman, who covers the Vegas club scene. "(When) women got into Congress, they changed the fabric of America. If you can add more all-star female DJs in the music industry, that will fundamentally change the kinds of sounds we hear. It'll add a whole new facet — new tones, textures, melodies — and as listeners, we want more choices, not less."

On DJ Mag's 2013 top 100 list, which ranks the most popular EDM acts, there were three women. Online EDM magazine Resident Advisor's 2013 poll names six out of 100. Last September, Elfman reported that none of the 40-plus international EDM acts playing Vegas at Wynn clubs XS, Surrender, Tryst and Encore Beach were women.

Possible explanations have been floated for years.

One theory is cultural conditioning. Boys are encouraged to tinker with gadgets and develop technical skills from an early age, while girls are not. "I see EDM like the software development world," says Miller. "Maybe those fields just aren't a consideration. Those biases are deeply ingrained."

"People think that knowing computers and being introverts is only for men and that women are raised to be social and to look good and to be popular," says Fiona Fitzpatrick of the Swedish duo Rebecca & Fiona. "That's just not true."

She recalls a particularly telling incident in which a guy tried to show the duo how to use a mixer before a gig. "We've been doing this since 2008, and this man tells us, 'This is the play button,' " she says. "Everyone has to take responsibility for equality to happen. The men have to give women some room."​

Condescension comes with the territory. "When people come up to me after a set and say that they were surprised at how good my performance was, that's nice to hear," says Lunoe. "But it's a shame that they didn't expect much from me in the first place."

Then there's the issue of lifestyle. "There are a lot of late nights and lots of partying. It's harder for a woman to be date-worthy if they live that life, while it's more accepted for men," says Miller. "But that's not unique to EDM, either."

Although EDM is a big boys' club on the decks, that isn't the case behind the scenes. "If this industry was run by men, then I might think that gender is a reason, but the biggest agents and managers in EDM are women — there's no shortage of women running things," says Pasquale Rotella, the mastermind behind Insomniac Events, which throws the Electric Daisy Carnivals. "I have no idea why and I've been doing this for 20 years. It's a head-scratcher."

Women hold another position of power in EDM, too: radio. "BBC Radio 1 DJs, like Annie Mac, Cassy and Heidi are some of the most influential. They're the tastemakers and the gatekeepers," says Miller. "These women bring music into the consciousness of listening. There's a good roster there."

While there's no shortage of demand, there is a shortage of supply. "I don't get many demos from women who are producing or want to be DJs," says Miller.

"There's absolutely no prejudice in breaking through," says Amy Thompson, who manages big-name acts Swedish House Mafia, Alesso and Dirty South. "It's just that there aren't a lot of women spending their time making EDM, and if there were, I would have found them in a flash. If women want it, it's theirs for the taking."

Gary Richards, who puts on the HARD festivals and Holy Ship! parties, plans to do his part by staging an all-female festival. But Yousaf doesn't see the point. "Male or female, we're on the same level," she says. "It's like flashing a light on a problem where there shouldn't be one."

Elfman finds the notion just funny. "Why not? There are already all-male music fests," he says. "They're called every music festival you've ever been to."

At EDM festivals, the sky's the limit on fashion statements, but "less is more" seems to be the guideline. The 2013 Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas. Josh Reiss (Curious Josh)